The Newsletter | No.65 | Autumn 2013
The Review | 39
Confucius evolving
to medicine. For Ho, Confucianism should not be regarded
as a hindrance to the advance of science in ancient China, thus
he calls for a more detailed and comprehensive understanding
of Confucianism, because Confucianism “is not science, nor
were its objectives science, but it is also clear that its principles
are not anti-science” (p. 63).
In Confucianism, Chinese History and Society, the contributors strive to convey
a balanced understanding of the Chinese tradition of Confucius as it evolved
over the last 2500 years, from ancient times to contemporary application, from
the classics into practice, and all within a single book. Edited by Wong Sin Kiong,
Associate Professor of Chinese Studies at the National University of Singapore,
this collection of essays aims to distinguish the presentation of the subject
matter from previous works on the topic that have taken a more historical
approach. The essays contained in this collection were originally delivered
at the memorial lectures in 1995 for Professor Wu Teh Yao, political scientist,
specialist in Confucianism and drafter of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration
of Human Rights. As the title indicates, the volume comprises mainly of three
parts: Confucianism, Chinese history, and Chinese society, which also lucidly
summarize the major research fields of Professor Wu.
Hang Lin
Reviewed publication:
Wong Sin Kiong (ed.). 2012.
Confucianism, Chinese History
and Society.
New Jersey and London:
World Scientific Publishing.
Viii + 251 pp. £28.00.
ISBN: 978-9814374477
(paperback).
Confucius Temple,
Beijing, China.
Image reproduced
under a creative
commons license
courtesy of Flickr.
Confucianism
The first part opens up with Tu Wei-Ming’s essay ‘A Confucian
Perspective on Human Rights’ in which the author first
discusses the cultural background of the original conception
of human rights and then seeks to explore the relationship of
contemporary human rights doctrine to Confucian teachings,
in particular the concepts of the in-dividual in relation to
community, state, and society. In those societies shaped by
Confucianism in Asia, Confucian traditions can be a spiritual
source for nation building, social stability, and cultural identity.
At the same time, Enlightenment values, including human
rights, “have become domesticated as an integral part of their
own cultural heritage” (p. 18). Tu does not view this critical
issue as merely Asian values versus modern Western values
(p. 5-6), but addresses certain Confucian perceptions, such as
human self-development and the unity of Heaven and humanity, to suggest that a Confucian perspective on human rights
is worth exploring since it can play an important role in transforming ‘human rights’ into an universal language of humanity.
In the next chapter, ‘Nationalism and Confucianism’,
Wang Gungwu takes Confucian ideas on nation building to
examine the origin of nationalism in China, its development
in the twentieth century under different conditions, its
contributions to modernization, and the difference it has
made to the Chinese culture and society. Admittedly, the
last century has witnessed a consequential contradiction
between nationalism and Confucianism in China. Now that
nationalism has returned in China and Confucianism has
become respectable again, Wang believes that this historical
discrepancy will be solved because the word ‘revolution’
has now been replaced by ‘patriotism’ (p. 40), an euphemism
of ‘nationalism’. Noticing this transformation, Wang insists
that state or official Confucianism, which supported imperial
China in the past, will never be restored, but personal and
social Confucianism remains pervasive and re-emerging
as a positive force in efforts in building something akin to
a modern civil society in China, including the new perception
and definition of nationalism.
As the last chapter of part one, ‘Did Confucianism Hinder
the Development of Science in China?’, Ho Peng Yoke’s essay
concentrates on the central question: “Was Confucianism
the stumbling block that prevented China from a scientific
revolution in traditional China?” (p. 49) Ho first refutes the
conventional criticism of scholars on Confucius that his attitude
and way of thinking hindered the development of science
in China. The author further notes that even later Confucians
such as Mencius, Dong Zhongshu, and Zhu Xi should not be
blamed since they all did not oppose science and their writings
covered topics ranging from calendar astronomy, geography,
History
Part two of the collection, consisting of two chapters by
Liu Ts’un-Yan and Chin Ling-Yeong respectively, is devoted to
selected episodes in the Chinese history with emphasis on early
contacts between China and the world. In ‘East Meets West:
The Impact on China and Her Response’, Liu traces the three
major historical periods of Europeans from the West, meeting
the Chinese in the East: Marco Polo in the thirteenth century,
Matteo Ricci in the sixteenth century, and James Legge in the
second half of the nineteenth century. Another essay of this
part by Chin, ‘Zheng He: Navigator, Discoverer, and Diplomat’,
focuses on the legendary sailorman Zheng He and his seven
large scale expeditions to the Indian Ocean and eastern Africa
between 1405 and 1433. These two essays are expected to
support the main theme of part one that the comprehension
of Confucianism in the modern era requires both studies
of the tradition itself and the awareness of constant contacts
and interactions of China and the West in a more broad sense.
We know that prominent figures such as Matteo Ricci and
Zheng He had not only played important roles in the history
of Sino-Western communications but also inspired crucial
developments in the ideological history of both China and the
West. But what are the historical significance of these personalities? Are there any linkages between these events and the
changing perspectives of and on Confucianism? Readers may
expect more direct and definite answers from the authors.
Modern society
The later thematic chapters in part three contain some
excellent analyses of an extremely wide range of topics
from transligual practice in contemporary Chinese cultures,
cultural plurality and comparative literature in China, scientific
understandings of pedagogical studies, children and childhood
in traditional China, to cultural characteristics of major Chinese
metropolitan cities. Readers may wonder that most of the
essays do not mention Confucianism or provide any reference
to Confucian tradition at all. Contributed by scholars on
languages, literature, history, and pedagogy, these essays seem
at the first sight indeed a bit random and incoherent to each
other. On the other hand, in this way the authors also mutely
reiterate the point Wang Gungwu makes that the China today
is no longer monotonous as in the dynastic era in which state
or official Confucianism was the political and cultural orthodoxy
(p. 39-41). In fact, the modern Chinese society is not only
shaped by its history and tradition, but at the same time
it is also subjected to considerable influence of the West.
In this splended volume, the authors take the challenge
to analyze certain aspects of the Confucian tradition and to
deepen the apprehension of Confucianism and its significance
to the Chinese history and contemporary social settings.
Given this goal of the collection, however, it would be helpful
and convenient for the readers if the scope of the essays
could be organized into a more comprehensive order and if
the coherence between each chapters could be stated more
explicitly. Indeed, in recent years Confucian teachings have
been regaining ground both in and outside China as the
subject of academic discourse and as an expression of
Chinese cultural identity, resulting in a rapidly growing body
of scholarship on Confucian relevance to modern China/East
Asia. Those who want to acquire a more in-depth insight into
the topic may turn to works such as Confucianism and Human
Rights (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998) edited
by Wm. Theodore de Bary and Ti Weiming, Confucianism for
the Modern World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2003) edited by Daniel A. Bell and Hahm Chaibong, Daniel
A. Bell’s China’s New Confucianism: Politics and Everyday Life in
A Changing Society (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University
Press, 2008), as well as the very recently published A Confucian
Constitutional Order: How China's Ancient Past Can Shape Its
Political Future (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013)
by Jiang Qing.
In short, this book will definetely appeal to both scholars
of Chinese philosophy and readers generally interested in
Con-fucianism and its relevance to contemporary Chinese
society. The authors have succeeded in popularizing the
Confucian ideas by interpreting them in profound and
scholastic ways. For its glimpse of Confucian ideas and for
its rethinking of issues related to Confucianism, Chinese
history, and Chinese society, Confucianism, Chinese History
and Society will also be a useful handbook for historians
and students of cultural studies.
Hang Lin, University of Würzburg, Germany
([email protected])